Night Show Read Free

her lungs. Dazed, she flopped onto her back.
    She sat up, and peered into the porch.
    The front door of the Freeman house swung shut.
    Inside the house, Tony lowered his ax and leaned back against the door. He started to peel the makeup and false beard from his face.
    In spite of the chilly air, he wasn’t cold.
    The tremors that shook his naked body had nothing to do with cold.
    They had to do with excitement.
    He’d scared himself silly. His heart was thundering, his guts knotted. Touching himself, he felt his gooseflesh, his stiff nipples. His penis was shrunken as if to hide. His scrotum was shriveled the size of a walnut.
    My God, what a charge!
    Hefting his ax, he made his way across the dark foyer. He stooped, picked up the mannequin head by its hair, and eagerly started up the stairs toward the black upper story of the house.

2
     
    D ANI L ARSON leaned forward, bracing her hands on the sill, resting her forehead against the window pane. ‘I’m so afraid,’ she said. ‘Margot, Julie, Alice – all dead.’
    She flinched as Michael touched her bare shoulders. ‘It’s all right, honey,’ he whispered. ‘You’re safe here.’ His lips brushed her shoulders.
    ‘Michael, no.’
    ‘I’ll help you forget.’
    ‘I don’t want to forget. He’s out there somewhere, looking for me.’
    ‘Worrying about it won’t help.’ His hands slipped around to the front of Dani, held her breasts gently through the thin fabric of her nightgown while he nibbled her ear.
    She arched her back, moaning as if with pleasure. Suddenly, she gasped. Her eyes bulged. Her mouth jerked open, ready to scream.
    ‘Cut, cut! Beautiful! That’s a print!’
    ‘Aw shit,’ Michael said. ‘Just when I was starting to enjoy it.’
    ‘Should’ve blown your lines,’ Dani said, peeling his fingers off her breasts.
    The window flew up, and Roger Weston poked his head inside. ‘Beautiful, gang. Lovely. Ready for the splash scene, Dani?’
    ‘We’ll set it up.’
    ‘Good kid.’
    She turned away, caught Jack’s amused look, and shrugged.
    ‘Let’s go to it, kid,’ Jack told her.
    Dani bared her teeth.
    ‘Should’ve done that to Rog,’ he said.
    ‘I don’t like to abuse short people. They’ve got enough troubles.’ She picked up her blue windbreaker with MIDNIGHT SCREAMS printed across the back, slipped it on to cover the top, at least, of her sheer nightgown, and snapped it shut.
    Then she followed Jack to a corner of the set, where Ingrid stood with her mouth agape and terror in her eyes. The mannequin was a duplicate of Dani: five foot six and slim, with shoulder-length auburn hair, gelatin eyes the same emerald color as her own, and lightly tanned latex skin. It was exact to the tiny scar on its chin, the slightly crooked upper front tooth.
    Dani noticed, as she approached, the blatant dark thrust of its nipples through the gown.
    She hoped that her own hadn’t been so apparent.
    They must’ve been, though. Identical nightgowns, identical breasts. She’d cast them, like the rest of Ingrid, from molds of herself. She’d taken great care, sitting half-naked in her workshop, comparing, trying to find a perfect match of the flesh tones even though she hadn’t known the nightgown would be quite so revealing.
    If she hadn’t made them so well, maybe she and Ingrid might have both been spared the embarrassment . . .
    ‘Problem?’ Jack asked.
    ‘Huh?’
    ‘You look upset.’
    ‘No, it’s all right. Just wishing the negligees weren’t so transparent.’
    ‘She looks great. You did, too.’
    ‘You’re not supposed to notice those things.’
    ‘I’m a man.’
    ‘I’m your boss.’
    Jack laughed, and clawed fingers through the side of his dark beard. ‘Gonna be the pits, blowing her away.’
    ‘I don’t need the competition.’
    He wrapped an arm around Ingrid’s waist. With a hand bracing her head, he tipped her sideways. Dani grabbed the legs, and lifted.
    They carried Ingrid to the window. Dani lowered her